We have arrived safely back at the Peninsula Hotel and can’t quite believe that our 3 week trip has come to an end and we are back to where we started. We have dinner booked tonight at Robataya in Roppongi and as we are being collected at 5.30 am tomorrow we are all packed and […]
After our 18 different modes of transport to get here yesterday, this morning we had to catch yet another tiny mountain train, then a funicular railway and then a cable car before we finally got to see Mount Fuji for the first time. The cable car came over the top of a ridge and WOW […]
DAY 17 We are currently in the Kansai region of Japan, a couple of hours south of Osaka. The last part of today’s journey was very scenic as our train gradually headed up into mountains covered with dense forests. We really did feel as if we were miles away from anywhere and the single track […]
Yikes it’s been hot in Kyoto. Thank goodness for Green Tea ice-cream! Temperatures have hit the mid 80’s and its been far too hot for sightseeing. At first glance Kyoto is quite over powering. With 17 Unesco World Heritage sites, over 1,600 temples and more than 400 shrines deciding what to see in 2 1/2 […]
I was surprised at how upsetting it was to walk around the ruins of what once was a beautiful building but now stands as a poignant reminder and memorial of what happened at 8.15 am on 6 August 1945. The building is called the Atomic Bomb Dome but that name doesn’t describe the building’s history […]
We have just spent 24 hours in Osaka and WOW what a crazy place that is! Try and picture Piccadilly Circus, Times Square, Las Vegas and Camden Market (on steroids) all together and on New Year’s Eve and even then that wouldn’t be wild enough. Our visit started out very normal and calm as we […]
Probably, like us, you will never have heard of Kanazawa but if I was to tell you that the city has a castle, the third most famous gardens in Japan, a Geisha district, a Samurai district, it is close to the sea so has the best seafood – particularly sushi and snow crabs, a 280 […]
We had an interesting journey to Tsumago on Sunday. Located in the picturesque Kiso Valley our home for the next 2 nights is in one of the best preserved post towns on the ancient Nakasendo Highway. This was the main route linking Kyoto and Edo (modern day Tokyo) in the days of the Shogun. Our […]
The last two days have been filled with lots of “first time experiences”. Below are the key ones:- It was my first time on a bullet train, or Shinkasen as they are called here. Our journey took a couple of hours to Nagano where we had to change onto a local train to get to […]
I love Tokyo. The city is nothing like I imagined it to be. More London than New York. Fewer skyscrapers and lots of blue sky – although the day we arrived it chucked it down with rain – but since then has been beautiful spring weather. Our room at the Peninsula Hotel is gorgeous and […]
3 weeks touring round Japan
